Atrium - msd.unimelb.edu.au · Atrium 16 | 2011 THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE FACULTY OF...

CITIES AND URBAN ENVIRONMENTS

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THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE

FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING & PLANNING

NADER TEHRANI VISIT 04 TRANSFORMING MELBOURNE 07 CORBETT LyON LEADS MARCH STUDIO ‘MUTATIONS, 10 HyBRIDS AND NEw SpECIES’ OCCASIONAL ADDRESS: CORBETT LyON 11 GENDER-INCLUSIVE CITIES & THE RIGHT TO THE CITy 12 HONG KONG – COMpACT AND VOLUMETRIC 14 ACADEMIC pROFILE: DR MARCUS wHITE 17

STUDENT pROFILE: LUCIANA FORNARI COLOMBO 18 MSD DEAN’S HONOURS AwARDS 2010 20 THE FORMATIVE HISTORIES wALKING TOUR 21 REEL REUNION 22 GIVING FORM 24 IDENTITy, DIVERSITy AND INDIGENOUS 25 pLACE-MAKING IN MELBOURNE FROM THE FACULTy 26

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THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNEFACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING & PLANNING

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Dean’s Message

The theme of this issue of Atrium, our first edition for 2011, is Cities and Urban Environments, looking at urban infrastructures, morphologies and governance. As urban populations grow around the region and in Victoria, this theme encompasses much of what our Faculty focuses on in our teaching, research and engagement activities. The theme is particularly relevant as we enter the next phase of our ambitious new building program, as this is conceptualised as a research platform for design and construction in an urban context. The project took a significant step in 2009 with an international competition to design a landmark architecture building for the University of Melbourne. At the start of this year, the University Council gave their assent for us to move to the next stage to design and document the project. This is significant as it means we can engage with the design team and move toward construction, backed by significant fundraising which will be vital to achieve our vision for a new kind of academic space. As the year progresses, I look forward to sharing more about our ambitious building program with you.

As you will remember, the team of John wardle and Nader Tehrani were selected to work with our Faculty to design the new building. In March, Nader Tehrani travelled from Boston to Melbourne to launch our 2011 Dean’s Lecture Series (DLS) and to spend time with students, staff and members of the professions in Melbourne. Scott Drake writes about Nader’s visit on pages 4-6: a visit which was defined not only by Nader’s hugely popular public lecture but also by his generous engagement with our Melbourne School of Design students.

The DLS is the primary context in which we bring inspirational and successful practitioners from across the world to our Faculty, as part of our commitment to international discourse. we have also recently hosted Colombian landscape architect Martha Fajardo, who presented a Dean’s Lecture on the urban transformations that have taken place in Bogotá, Medellin and Cartagena. She challenged us to re-think the way we design urban spaces, to create sustainable and affordable ‘landscapes of happiness.’ Later this year, we will host American architect James Timberlake and another Colombian, the architect Lorenzo Castro.

Engaging with our local built environment practitioners is also important to us and we were thrilled to launch a new initiative this year called the ‘MSD Director’s Series’. This exclusive series of informal talks by high profile architects and designers was launched in April by Timothy Hill, who delivered an irreverent tribute to the Oxo measuring cup, at the Robin Boyd House.

In this issue of Atrium, we have various ‘voices’ writing about urban environments and the way we create and occupy city spaces. Sean Sweeney outlines the significant transformations that took place in Melbourne during his tenure as Executive Director of Major projects Victoria. Carolyn whitzman writes about female friendly cities, based on her ‘Gender Inclusive Cities’ research. Carolyn’s project is also the basis for an international Travelling Studio to Montreal in July, to be led by herself and Clare Newton. Corbett Lyon highlights the fact that our world is becoming increasingly complex and challenges our graduates (and all of us) to provide ‘top down’ leadership in regard to sustainability, globalization and the multiple challenges which face our urban centres. Barrie Shelton, who joined us as Associate professor in Urban Design

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last year, examines one of the most compact and sustainable cities in the world, Hong Kong, in his piece about the recently published book The Making of Hong Kong: From Vertical to Volumetric. The book was co-authored by three members of ABp: Barrie Shelton, Justyna Karakiewicz and myself, and draws on our individual experiences and insights into possible lessons for sustainable city form. Finally, on the theme of cities and urban environments, Hannah Lewi encourages us to experience architecture at the street level by taking her ipod walking tour which she uses in her teaching and can be downloaded from the Apple App Store.

There are many ways in which your support has significant impact for our students. This is evident in the piece on Identity, Diversity and the Metropolis: The Inaugural Hon. Evan Walker Design Studio Exhibition, a studio and exhibition led by Jefa Greenaway. Supported by the Christopher wren Club in honour of one of their members, the exhibition showcased student work from the 2010 Master of Architecture studio which focused on indigenous place-making. you can read about it on page 25.

we are always pleased to engage with our large alumni community. One example of this was the presentation of a special film event, held in March, showcasing Archi Review films of the 1950s and 1960s, created by some of Australia’s foremost architects and designers from this ‘golden era’. The screening was a huge success with over 200 alumni attending and drew interest from ACMI and the International Melbourne Film Festival. peter Jones, who coordinated the event, gives a detailed review of this special night on page 22.

In this issue, we also profile the achievements of one of our newest staff members, Dr Marcus white, who has been named the National Emerging Architect of the year at the Australian Achievement in Architecture Awards presented in March, and one of our talented MSD students, Luciana Fornari, recipient of a prestigious MacGeorge Travelling Scholarship.

The cover of this edition of Atrium features a photograph of an installation on St Kilda beach, which was designed, fabricated and constructed by a group of students who participated in a Digital Design and

Fabrication summer workshop led by our Ex-Lab (Experimental Design Lab). The installation was part of the 2011 St Kilda Festival and exposed the work of our students to a public audience in the thousands. It is another example of our Faculty’s diverse studio and workshop outcomes engaging with people beyond the university.

Our rich events culture continues in 2011. Check out the ‘From the Faculty’ section in this issue to read more about our recent and upcoming exhibitions, public lectures and other activities. you can also visit our website to access our regularly updated calendar of events: http://www.msd.unimelb.edu.au/events/.

please do come to visit us and enjoy some of our extensive offerings.

Tom Kvan

Front Cover Image: photography by Jas Johnston

http://www.msd

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Nader Tehrani Visit

Scott Drake

During the week of March 21 to 25, the Faculty was pleased to host the visit of Nader Tehrani, principal of Boston based NADAAA Architects, and head of the Department of Architecture at MIT. Much of the week was spent working in collaboration with John wardle and Associates, the two practices having joined forces to with the commission to design the new building for the Faculty of Architecture, Building and planning at the University of Melbourne. Other events included the first of this year’s Dean’s Lecture Series, a floor talk for the opening of an exhibition of NADAAA’s work in the wunderlich Gallery, and a studio session with masters students from the Melbourne School of Design.

The Dean’s lecture, held on the Tuesday evening and attracting an audience of nearly 500 people, commenced as a conversation between Nader and John wardle. The discussion began with the issue of legibility, the communication of both design ideas and the process of making through architecture. Tehrani noted that regardless of the architect’s intention, the public reads architecture, but in many different ways. No longer does a single code or language communicate to a united audience, who are now equipped broader access to knowledge and culture. But regardless of the reading, it is always the case that

the visceral, the tactile, and the experiential are always embedded in architecture. This physicality is what connects architectural ideas and their manifestation through construction.

Ironically, it is processes of digital fabrication that have focused attention on the importance of details. while the digital extends techniques of repetition and mass production that characterized modernism, it also opens up the possibility of a new kind of craft. This is not a nostalgic regression to handmade artifacts, but a situation where the hand of the artisan can be captured through digital fabrication techniques. Tehrani noted that the computer came into architectural education shortly after his own graduation. In contrast to the mythologies that the resultant automation would diminish the importance of authorship, it had instead created a new space in which human touch could be expressed. The ability with digital fabrication to craft the processes of design and making, rather than the final product, meant that architects could be secure about the role of the author without being sentimental about it.

The fact that digital fabrication allows direct translation from idea into reality means that it can overcome linear processes of idea generation, followed by documentation, followed by fabrication.

It is now possible for the detail to be the generator of the design; no longer the end point or expression or a prior idea, it is instead the site of ideation, a code for what is possible in architecture.

wardle then asked about the idea of longevity or adaptability; the contrast between design for purpose (such as with a new building) and design for timelessness. Tehrani suggested that the latter had often been misinterpreted as relevance to any time or any period, but that it was best understood through work that speaks directly to its time but which has the ability to resonate with issues that are relevant architecture over the long term.

In the rest of his lecture – titled “practical pedagogies and pedagogical practices” – Tehrani addressed themes learnt from the intersections of teaching and building. Beginning with images of wardle’s work, he identified themes that paralleled those of his own practice: issues of construction, of the body in architecture, and of specification as a mechanism for building. He explained how these issues had been largely overlooked at the time of his own education, which was instead characterized by a shift from the postmodernist interest in historical typologies into the challenges faced by architecture in the light of post-structuralist and deconstructivist theory. Neither, he argued, properly

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addressed the core or architectural practice and theory, namely construction. For him, materiality is a fundamental consideration. He illustrated this through the geometry of drawing, such that ability to connect two points with a line in ruled surface demonstrates its buildability. Materials that can fold in one direction but not another can be used to enliven the skin of a building, thickening the wall to allow spatial programs to intersect and overlap. Masonry, rather than following the repetitive rule of a single bond, can twist and shift through corbelling, screening, and folding to give variable permeability that can reflect and respond to the needs of the program.

The idea of exploration through construction was also demonstrated in an exhibition on display in the wunderlich Gallery. Rather than present a catalogue of finished projects, the architects chose to show one project in comprehensive detail: the renovations to the College of Architecture at Georgia Institute of Technology. Here drawings of plans, large

scale details, and 3D models combined with images of assembly and inhabitation to present a many-sided picture of a single project. The final panel even showed the submission for progressive Architecture awards, a curiously concentrated version of the entire exhibition.

The Georgia Tech project is located in the Hinman Building, originally designed by paul M Heffernan. Into a large space with a high ceiling and clerestory windows, Tehrani and his team designed an insertion in the form of ‘crib’ hanging from above. Access to the crib is via a straight-run staircase formed by folding pair of steel floor joists folded downward. A second stair, this time spiral, is also hung from the ceiling, and clad with wire mesh. It appears like a giant birdcage that has been distorted as the weight of the stair has dropped down to touch the floor below. The drawings hint at the adjustments needed to meet budget, with an earlier version of the spiral stair seemingly forgone to keep costs down. Other details, such as plywood

balustrades or fluoros hung vertically, show a rigour of detail applied to the simplest materials. The use of suspended insertions is intended to enable a rich and saturated program while still allowing the space to be transformed for large scale events or installations; a strategy of construction that ensures long-term flexibility.

During his visit, Tehrani demonstrated to all of us here at Melbourne University that rare and valuable skill of combining successful practice with academic work. His ability to provide thoughtful and intelligent commentary on key architectural issues in both verbal and built form has been inspiring to all of us. we look forward to a successful collaboration with John wardle Architects as they work together with the Faculty to turn vision into reality. Keep an eye out for details.

Scott Drake is Assistant Dean (Facilities) and Assistant Professor in Architecture.

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Images: 1 Spiral stair, Hinman Research building renovation, Georgia Institute of Technology 2 Nader Terhani engaging his Melbourne audience 3 Construction of mezzanine, Hinman Research building renovation, Georgia Institute of Technology

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Transforming Melbourne

SeaN SWeeNeY

In this article I will outline the significant and ongoing transformation of Melbourne that occurred while I was Director of Major projects Victoria.

As the article ‘Today’s City Created in the past’ published in the last edition of Atrium Atrium reveals, the modern transformation of Melbourne began in the 1980s with the visionary work of Evan walker and David yencken. It was their leadership in urban planning which initiated Melbourne’s rejuvenation.

The Cain Government soon displayed similar leadership by promulgating a special purpose project delivery unit which was tasked with delivering projects of such significance and potential risk that they needed a special focus. This unit was initially called the Office of Major projects, which evolved into what is now known as Major projects Victoria (MpV). It is a point worth noting that planning without execution remains a largely academic exercise.

Since the late 1980s, successive State Governments have embarked on a relentless program of civic projects which have changed the face of Melbourne. The reason most people join the construction industry and, the reason most senior people within the industry remain, is it is one of the few industries where you have the chance to leave your mark in a visible way. For practical people this is an enormous motivator. The opportunity to make a difference at MpV was a big attraction for me.

Around the same time as I joined Major projects Victoria, I enrolled at the then Melbourne University private in a Master of public Infrastructure. I thought this would complement the role I was embarking on with Major projects Victoria. On submission of my draft Master’s thesis, I was encouraged by my supervisor Associate professor Colin Duffield to consider doing a phD. A number of my peers politely informed me that embarking on such a commitment at this stage of my career was an indulgent

folly: one that held few practical benefits. The reality, as it turned out, could not have been further from the truth.

Early in my tenure, I read a quote by John Denton about the impact that major civic projects have on us. In this quote he noted that these major projects become the visible reminder of successive governments and, in this way, become a legacy of the successive governments for the people they serve. This quote affected my view of the role of Major projects Victoria in a profound way. It is fair to say that most project delivery organisations are driven to strive for outcomes in terms of time and cost on a project by project basis. They seldom think in terms of the legacy that their projects will represent. Given Major projects Victoria’s potential to impact Melbourne’s built environment, I believe it was crucial that we viewed our role in terms of the legacy we would leave behind. This subtle change of thinking affected everything we did from then on.

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SiNce the late 1980s, SucceSSive State GoverNmeNtS have embarkeD oN a releNtleSS proGram of civic projectS Which have chaNGeD the face of melbourNe.

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Another major change in thinking during my time as Executive Director of Major projects Victoria was in our relationship with University of Melbourne. we believed that it was crucial to engage with and support the activities of Universities who taught the future practitioners of our industry. Being enrolled in a phD at Melbourne made it the obvious institution for me to focus this engagement.

Two areas of interest were design quality and sustainability. In both these areas Major projects Victoria worked actively with the University on post graduate design collaborations. Two significant examples of this were the support and involvement MpV had with two post graduate design projects: one under the direction of professor Chris Ryan and the other led by professor Catherin Bull. These projects considered two major sites in inner Melbourne: the land to the east of Federation Square and the land to the north of Southern Cross Station. Both these sites were being analysed by MpV to assess what could be done with them. The outcomes of these design projects challenged my paradigms about what was possible and appropriate use for both sites. These collaborations between

MpV and the Faculty of Architecture Building and planning were high positive and productive experiences for me and they subtly impacted their thinking in regard to these sites and our analysis of them.

while this was occurring, I was proceeding with my own phD research which triggered another change in my thinking. A phD highlights the importance of research and data. The construction industry is generally resistant to both. However, this exposure changed my approach to dealing with many of the problems we faced delivering our major projects.

I was also fortunate to have worked for Major projects Victoria from 2004 to 2011. I was involved or responsible for the delivery of a suite of Commonwealth Games projects including the Athlete’s Village, the Swimming pool and william Barak Bridge, The Austin and Mercy Hospital, The Australian Synchrotron, the redevelopment of the Melbourne Showgrounds, The Melbourne Recital Centre/Melbourne Theatre Company, The Melbourne Convention Centre and the new sports stadium (AAMI park). projects under way when I left MpV in February included redevelopments of Hamer Hall and the Melbourne park Tennis Centre.

My farewell function was held in the Redmond Barry Room on Level 46 of 50 Collins place, which overlooks the yarra River. From this vantage point, I counted almost 20 projects which Major projects Victoria has completed over the past 20 years in that immediate vicinity. There is no other city in Australia that has had such a sustained and intense period of “city building”. Going back to John Denton’s quote - what sort of a legacy were we leaving behind? I was enormously proud that in the last three years of my tenure, projects managed by Major projects Victoria had won over 40 international, national and state awards. These projects have greatly contributed to Melbourne’s built environment and have enhanced its justified reputation as the design capital of Australia.

Sean Sweeney is an alumnus of the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning.

Images 1. Melbourne Recital Centre/MTC 2. AAMI park 3. Melbourne Convention Centre All photographs by peter Glenane

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Corbett Lyon leads MArch Studio: ‘Mutations, Hybrids and New Species’

louiSa raGaS

One of the defining aspects of the Melbourne School of Design (MSD) is the inclusion of successful practitioners to lead design studios within our Master’s programs. MSD students are not only taught by world-class academics on staff, but have the opportunity to take individual subjects, such as the Master’s Architecture Thesis studio, which are facilitated by highly experienced practitioners and innovative design thinkers. Their creative and technical expertise and industry knowledge is of immense value to MSD students, who are about to embark on their own professional careers. As part of our aim to produce world-class graduates, the involvement of practitioners in our graduate programs ensures they are industry focused.

professor philip Goad, Director of the MSD, believes that involving leading architects in the MSD’s studio program is vital in extending students’ understanding of design principles and current industry challenges.

‘One of the key aims of the Melbourne School of Design is to foster strong relationships with leading design practitioners, to get them into the design studio and facilitate direct contact with students over an entire semester. In this way, leading designers can explore and speculate together with graduate students on possible design futures. The benefits are great. It’s not about traditional design instruction but a form of collaborative design research. This is the culture that we want to see develop and thrive within the MSD: the studio as design laboratory.’

professor, architect and creator of the stunning Lyon House Museum, Corbett Lyon is one such local practitioner who, along with graduate architect Christina Bozsan, led a Master of Architecture Thesis studio in 2010 with the intriguing title ‘Mutations, Hybrids and New Species: Typological Speculations on the Future City.’

Corbett Lyon is a Director of Lyons, an architectural and urban design practice based in Melbourne. The firm designs projects which are expressive of a contemporary experience of local and global culture - a world of ideas, new media, technologies and rapidly changing urbanism. Lyons is also interested in the history and culture of ideas and how ideas can be used to create meaningful contemporary architecture.

The ‘Mutations, Hybrids and New Species’ studio reflects this commitment to ideas and how they define the design process. Corbett challenged the students to explore the genealogy and taxonomy of architectural types, focusing on how these have evolved and transformed in response to context, social and political drivers, the advent of new technologies and altered cultural and economic conditions. Students had to locate themselves within this research framework to make speculations on new typologies: grafted/recombined hybrids, genetically modified mutations and emergent new species in response to a self-defined forecast of future realities and needs.

As Corbett stated in his studio outline: ‘The concept that architecture imitates nature is not a recent revelation. It’s an idea that has deep roots in the philosophical study of architecture and this approach provided a means to answer such questions as: what are the generators for the future city? what are the generators for these new types? what is the new DNA?’

Early in the studio, students developed their theoretical research component in groups of three or four. These concepts were then individually expanded and developed into detailed design propositions. The resulting designs were an urban proposal, a new building or a small insertion, with the level of resolution appropriate to the scale of intervention/insertion/scheme/policy.

‘I was delighted that ABp professorial Fellow, Corbett Lyon accepted the invitation to lead an MArch Design Thesis Studio says professor Goad. ‘professor Lyon is not only an outstanding architect and a gifted design teacher. Our students relished their contact with him and the relevance of his studio’s intellectual challenge. They were encouraged to experiment and test their propositions. This is exactly the sort of design practice that we want to promote in the MSD: design as an ongoing process of iteration and exploration. It’s a form of practice that will ensure our graduates earn a distinctive form of leadership within their chosen profession.’

Giovanni Veronesi, a student who undertook Lyon’s studio believed that the design studio offered some great opportunities for reflective thinking:

‘It helped me to understand what are my ambitions and goals are as an architect… Nothing is radically new or original, it is a consequence of what preceded it. In response to this cardinal principle, to achieve ubiquity in time and context, a design needs to grasp the fertility of the forces that generated the present, mastering and reverberating them in to the future. Understanding such forces and how they interact has been the first hermeneutical research part of this studio … The key advice came during a studio session where I was reminded of the poignancy of need as an architectural goal.’

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Corbett Lyon also inspired many graduating MSD students when he delivered his Occasional Address at the University of Melbourne Conferring of Degrees Ceremony in December 2010. you can read an edited version of his speech on page 11.

Images Student work from the Mutations, Hybrids and New Species studio 1. Art work in the Docklands by Sheng Dongqing 2 & 3. waterlily City by Xiliu.

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Occasional Address

profeSSor corbett lYoN

An edited version of the University of Melbourne Occasional Address given at the Conferring of Degrees Ceremony in December 2010.

Can I begin by congratulating you – the graduands – on reaching this important milestone in your personal and professional lives.

As you make the transition today from the academy into the field I’d like to speak with you about three things which I believe are important for you to think about, or at the very least to reflect on.

Firstly, what does it mean to be a graduate of this University? Secondly, how might I provide leadership in my chosen field, and perhaps most importantly, how might I make a difference to the shaping of our future?

what does it mean to be a graduate of the University of Melbourne? In completing your degree it’s often difficult to step back and look at what this time has meant for you. But I’m sure that in three or four, or even ten years time you will look back on this period here at Melbourne as some of the most enjoyable and productive years of your life.

Here, within the confines of the academy, you have had the unique opportunity to develop and test your values and attitudes, to extend your capacity to think critically and creatively and to develop specialist skills, all of which give you the ability to frame new perspectives on our world.

This skill set is an immensely valuable thing that you can now take with you as you take your place as emergent practitioners.

And I hope that along with this sense of achievement that you’re also feeling a sense of gratitude at having had this opportunity – even the privilege – of studying here at Melbourne; learning from your peers and I’m sure from the many teachers and mentors who have encouraged and challenged you along the way.

The second thought I’d like to leave with you is that as a graduate of Melbourne there comes, I think, an expectation that you will provide leadership in whatever role and in whatever field you end up pursuing.

Many of you will go on to provide this leadership within existing enterprises; some of you will establish your own. Others will go on to lead institutions or communities, or even countries.

Our world is becoming increasingly complex and challenging – increased social inequity, scarcity of resources, the question of the long term sustainability of our planet, erosion of distinctive cultural differences through globalization and the multiple challenges facing our cities. This is your generation’s future and they, that is, your peers, will be looking to you to provide leadership on these key questions of your time.

I don’t believe that this will be delivered by professionals who work in isolation in disciplinary ‘silos’ – rather these challenges will be met by people who are able to lead across disciplines – professional to professional. Indeed one of Melbourne University’s distinctive strengths is in encouraging its students to collaborate and to put their integrated knowledge to work for the common good.

So the kind of leadership which is needed for our time is not ‘top down’ leadership in which authority is asserted through privileged professional knowledge. Rather, using the multidisciplinary skills that you have developed here you are able to provide what I would describe as an inclusive kind of leadership - where you act as a lead enabler, or facilitator, across disciplines and involving multiple stakeholders. This type of leadership is something that you are able to demonstrate in many settings and across many scales - at the level of a project team, working within local communities, leading a major urban project or facilitating stakeholders at the scale of a nation.

which brings me to my third point – that with this skill base, and your contribution as leaders, that each of you has a unique opportunity to make a tangible contribution to the world’s future – to make a difference.

In 1910 Theodore Roosevelt gave a speech at the Sobornne in paris in which he made a distinction between people who stand on the sidelines - as observers, commentators and critics - and those who actually step into the arena and through hard work, drive and determination set out to make a difference.

He went on to make the point that these people who step into the arena could expect to encounter their fair share of setbacks as well as successes but what was important was that they were inspired to set their own course and to make a difference.

The opportunities for all of you to make a contribution are as exciting and as varied as we have graduates here today – as architects you might take the next steps in sustainable design, the planners among you may develop new ways of enhancing the amenity of our cities; others will contribute to the field of knowledge and others to the shaping of our built environment.

So in reflecting on these three thoughts today – the value of your Melbourne University education, your generation’s expectations of you to provide enabling leadership, and committing yourself to making a difference, can I congratulate you all on the wonderful achievement that you are celebrating today and wish you the very best for your future endeavors.

Corbett Lyon is a Professorial Fellow and Visiting Professor in Architectural Design at the University of Melbourne and Director of Lyons.

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‘Gender Inclusive Cities’ is a three year (2009-2012) action research project funded by the UN Trust Fund to Eliminate Violence Against women. It is also the name of a MSD Travelling Studio in Montreal that is being coordinated by myself and Clare Newton in July 2011.

The action research project is being coordinated by women in Cities International, a knowledge exchange network based in Montreal, involving both researchers and grassroots women’s organizations from around the world. I have been involved in women in Cities International since its creation in 2002, when it developed the first International Conference on women’s Safety. The Third International Conference on women’s Safety recently took place, in November 2010 in Delhi, India.

The Gender Inclusive Cities research project works with four cities that have previously undertaken work on preventing public violence against women, using partnerships between local government and grassroots community organizations as a mechanism. The four cities involved are: Delhi, India; Rosario, Argentina, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; and petrovadodsk, Russia.

The aim of the project is to create cities that are inclusive and respect the right of all people, including women, to live, work and move around without fear or violence. Gender Inclusive Cities seeks to identify the factors that cause and perpetuate inequalities and exclusion, as well as the policies and programme approaches that enhance women’s inclusion and “right to the city’.

The first stage of project consisted of developing baseline indicators of gendered fear and violence in the four cities using similar methodological tools: community mapping, street surveys, focus group discussions with groups ranging from municipal councillors to domestic workers and homeless people, and policy reviews. This critical work has been completed and is published on the women in Cities website:

http://womenincities.org/pdf-general/ gicp_baseline.pdf

The second stage of the project is to pilot interventions designed to reduce the public vulnerability and exclusion women and girls face, and promote their access to and understanding of their rights. There will be an evaluation of the effectiveness of the tools developed, and also a preliminary sense of whether these interventions are making a real impact on women’s differential use of, and comfort in, public space.

The Travelling Studio we are conducting in July is a unique opportunity for Melbourne School of Design students to engage with some of the researchers from women in Cities International and also to examine a range of issues in relation to a neighbourhood in transformation in Montreal. The neighbourhood, pointe St. Charles, is a post-industrial working class community facing gentrification and also threats to heritage. Housing, sustainable transport, and economic transformation issues will be examined through a gender lens, as well as access to public space and to local decision-making.

For more information on this research project:

women in Cities International: http://www.femmesetvilles.org/

Upclose podcast on Gender Inclusive Cities: http://upclose.unimelb.edu.au/episode/351

Gender Inclusive Cities on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v= ec3f1ph1F_8

Dr Carolyn Whitzman is an Associate Professor of Urban Planning.

Gender-Inclusive Cities and the Right to the City

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http://womenincities.org/pdf-general

http://www.femmesetvilles.org

http://upclose.unimelb.edu.au/episode/351

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v

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Images supplied by Carolyn whitzman

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Images from The Making of Hong Kong, including (at bottom) the book’s cover illustration by Justyna Karakiewicz

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It is fifty years since the appearance of the late Jane Jacobs’ Death and Life of Great American Cities, which is more quoted today than ever before. In it she was profoundly critical of the emerging suburban sprawl, separated uses and large areas of cities that had ceased to function outside of standard working hours. Her message was for higher densities, and mixed most things – activities, building types and conditions, hours of use, etc. Her reasons were mostly social, economic and cultural. She may not have used the term, ‘compact city’ but she was in effect an early advocate. More recently there have been countless commentators calling for compact city forms with environmental considerations their prime concern, for small footprint urbanism is one response to the crisis of global warming. However, for many critics this last aspect does not replace Jacob’s reasoning but is additional. Further, the aspects stressed most in current urban debate are higher densities and interconnected public transport systems as a way forward to reducing urban energy use and carbon emissions.

Hong Kong is one of the world’s three densest cities with some of the most mixed-use urban districts, and a public transport system second to none. Indeed, close to 90% of trips are made by public transport and per capita energy use for moving about the metropolis is the lowest amongst high-income cities. The entire territory has an average density of more than 300 people per hectare and the built-up urban areas more than twice that. It has more tall buildings than New york but unlike New york, its tall buildings are not so much concentrated towards the centre as continuous from centre to periphery. As a small footprint or compact mega-city, it probably has no rival.

By contrast, Australia, together with most of North America, has spawned the world’s lowest density large cities, with some of the most separated land use patterns and highest use of private motorcars. The three authors of The Making of Hong Kong: from Vertical to Volumetric, all FABp staff, are three Australian residents who believe that the future of our cities must lie, in part at least, in far denser and substantially different forms,

more intense activity, more local convenience, and a radical overhaul of public transport modes and routes. Further, we should not close our eyes to cities that are obviously different and examine places that are most experienced in designing density. Hong Kong and many other East Asian cities are places that offer different attitudes to urbanism and approaches to urban design.

All three authors have direct experience of East Asia. Tom Kvan spent much of his childhood in Hong Kong and returned there as an architect and later, as professor of Architecture at the University of Hong Kong. Justyna Karakiewicz taught at the same university, while completing her phD at RMIT on high density urbanism. Initially Barrie Shelton came to know Hong Kong by lecturing there en route to Japan, whose cities and urban traditions were the subject of his previous book, Learning from the Japanese City: West Meets East in Urban Design. Until recent years, there has been little design literature generated on Asian urbanism that has reached a world audience. while this is changing fast, we believe that too much attention is being directed to wow

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Hong Kong - Compact and Volumetric

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factor mega-projects, quirky designs and mind-boggling general statistics of growth and development; and too little is turning to more fundamental aspects of urban structure, specific morphologies, component typologies and systems, and how these come together to work effectively as compact city forms.

Our backgrounds and beliefs brought us together to investigate the experience of one city, Hong Kong, in the making of small footprint urban forms. we are fully aware that it is the product of unique circumstances: the plantation of a tiny western (British) colonial settlement in an Eastern (Chinese) cultural setting, and waves of refugees flooding into a tight physical island-and-peninsular setting of rugged hills and little level land. In our book, we step back before British settlement to show that multi-level high-density structures with multi-level movement were a rural ‘volumetric’ building phenomenon in the immediate region where Hong Kong grew.

This the starting point for our portrayal of Hong Kong as a volumetric as well as vertical city – where form, movement infrastructure and activities are widely configured to operate increasingly in a 3D and multi-directional manner – hence our title. Volumetric qualities are now evident in all kinds of structures and infra-structures, across urban Hong Kong: elevated express walkways, elevated escalator streets, tower and podium centres, multi-level market and mixed use community centres, drive-up high-rise warehouses, multi-level transport systems in all senses of the word (operating at and across many levels with vehicles that are themselves multi-deck, including double-deck elevators in buildings), etc. Further we analyse such forms in many illustrations, using consistent graphic techniques in shades of red and black.

we argue that higher densities are necessary for more than ecological reasons extending these to include changes in demographic structure, economic organisation and

associated lifestyles. we project Hong Kong as deserving of more attention from designers and planners, speculate on its future forms, and at least imply overt adaptation for other places.

Lastly, the publication is part of an ongoing program of investigation of Asian and volumetric ‘working models’ – city quarters and their building and space typologies. Further, the program includes graduate ‘Travelling Studios’ with other leading universities from the Asian region and beyond - thus integrating teaching and research.

The Making of Hong Kong: from Vertical to Volumetric is by Barrie Shelton, Justyna Karakiewicz and Thomas Kvan and published by Routledge, London & New york (2011).

For further details visit: www.makingofhk.com/makingofhk.swf

Barrie Shelton is Associate Professor of Urban Design.

The co-authors of The Making of Hong Kong – Barrie Shelton and Justyna Karakiewicz and Tom Kvan – with professor Glyn Davis, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne (2nd from left)

Image opposite HAw’s Foyn-Johanson House (2009) in Northcote

http://www.makingofhk.com/makingofhk.swf

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One of the Faculty’s newest academics has been recently awarded a prestigious national architecture prize. Dr Marcus white, who joined ABp in January as Lecturer in Digital Design in Architecture, was named the inaugural National Emerging Architect of the year at the Australian Achievement in Architecture Awards (AAAA), run by the Australian Institute of Architects, in March.

The award was judged on a range of criteria including excellence in architectural practice, research or education, contribution to community and industry activities related to architecture and involvement in official AIA activities.

‘The award is a wonderful recognition of my work in education, research and practice, says Marcus. But I also see the creation of the National Emerging Architect prize as a hopeful sign that the institute and the profession are moving towards new level of generosity and support for young practices.’

‘It is a pretty tough climate for young architects today. If we think back to 1950s to projects like the Melbourne Olympic Swimming – a major public building – it was designed by McIntyre and Borland when they were about 25 years old. These kinds of opportunities don’t really exist much today.’

Marcus white is a Director, along with Stuart Harrison, of Harrison and white (HAw), a Melbourne-based architectural practice which formed in 2006, after a series of project collaborations between Marcus and Stuart. They are driven by new ideas and a fresh, engaging approach to architectural challenges and use the latest in digital techniques. An example of this is the stunning Foyn-Johanson House (2009) in Northcote (pictured below) which uses sustainable recycled plastic screening on the rear façade.

HAw have had work exhibited at the Venice Biennale (in 2008 and 2010) and at the Victorian State of Design festival (2009). They won a commendation at the 2007 Architecture Australia Unbuilt competition for their environmentally sustainable urban design proposition ‘A Real walking City’. Harrison and white were commended by the judging panel for their ‘bold yet sensitive design proposition’, for the Seaford Life Saving Club and Dune Restoration competition entry.

Several of HAw’s projects have been profiled in the media and in industry publications such as Architectural Review Australia and Monument.

In presenting the National Emerging Architect of the year award, Jury Chair and EmAGN president Anthony Balsammo

said the jury was overwhelmed with the breadth of experience and dedication to the architecture profession that Marcus exhibited.

‘Dr Marcus white is an architect, urban designer, director of his own practice and a university scholar, who has been a lecturer and research fellow at RMIT SIAL, and now lectures at the University of Melbourne. His architectural work has been extensively published and exhibited throughout Victoria and he has an impressive list of awards and research grants against his name. A point of difference identified by the jury with this entry was Marcus’ demonstration of excellence in practice, research and education which are equally outstanding,’ Mr Balsammo noted.

working in education strongly informs Marcus’ efforts in practice, and vice versa.

‘you learn quite a bit by teaching. what I learn there feeds back into the work I do in practice and what I do in practice informs how I teach,’ says Marcus.

‘Being embedded in current architectural thinking when you work at a university certainly keeps the brain ticking over! The award also goes some way to validating my choice to continue navigating the often very rocky road of simultaneously working as an academic and architectural practitioner.’

Academic Profile: Dr Marcus White

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Student Profile: Luciani Fornari Colombo

Luciani Fornari Colombo is an international phD student in the Faculty of Architecture Building and planning and a recent recipient of a prestigious Norman MacGeorge Travelling Scholarship. with a passion for the architecture of Mies van der Rohe, Luciani travelled to some of the great design centres of North America to investigate the phenomenon of ‘theoretical projects’. Atrium spoke to Luciana about her research, the work of Mies van der Rohe and the value of travel.

A: Describe your research topic and what you hope to uncover and achieve: My thesis looks at the phenomenon ‘theoretical projects’: projects undertaken as a self-imposed challenge to develop generic architectural ideas able to inspire future designs. In order to achieve a deeper understanding of this phenomenon, I adopted as a case study Mies van der Rohe’s theoretical projects. There is abundant literature on this architect’s work, but so far none have looked at it from this perspective. In this sense, the role of theoretical projects in his career has been largely overlooked. In my thesis, I argue that theoretical projects are important as a tool in the development of architectural ideas and can provide the means for its more efficient application in architectural practice, research, teaching, exhibition, publication, and competition. In Australia, for example, competitions such as the AA prize for Unbuilt work have stimulated the production of theoretical projects, by seeking speculations on the futures of architecture. yet, not all projects presented in such events are theoretical. Theoretical projects are not only unbuilt.

Images 1& 2. Farnsworth House (1946-51, plano) 3. Federal Center (1959-64, Chicago) 4. IIT Robert F. Carr Memorial Chapel of Saint Savior (1949-52, Chicago) 5. Seagram Building (1954-58, New york). All photographs by Luciana F. Colombo

A: As a Norman MacGeorge Scholarship recipient you were able to conduct significant research overseas’. Where did you travel to and what did why? For two months, I travelled throughout North America to consult Mies van der Rohe’s original drawings, office papers, and other relevant documents. These documents are available in renowned institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art in New york, the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal, the Library of Congress in washington DC, and the Art Institute of Chicago. In these cities, I also interviewed historians and architects who had the opportunity to meet Mies personally or who have outstanding knowledge on his work. Among the historians interviewed are phyllis Lambert, founder and director of the Canadian Centre for Architecture, former Mies’s client, and colleague; Barry Bergdoll, Chief Curator of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art in Ny, and professor of architectural history at Columbia University; Franz Schulze, professor of Art Emeritus at Lake Forest College and Mies’s biographer; and Kenneth Frampton, ware professor at Columbia University. Among the architects interviewed are Arthur Takeuchi, Associate professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology and Mies’s former student; and Dirk Lohan, Mies’s grandson, who worked with Mies in projects such as the New National Gallery in Berlin. In addition, renowned architects such as Stanley Tigerman and Bernard Tschumi have shared their own experiences in the design of theoretical projects.

A: How did this international trip expand your conceptual ideas and enhance your research? My thesis has benefited immensely from this research trip. I discovered theoretical projects that Mies designed along his career than I had previously identified through readily

available sources. Access to primary sources, Mies’s own explanations of his theoretical projects, has also been illuminating. These explanations can be found in Mies’s letters, which are unpublished and only available in archives such as at the Library of Congress. The insights and support from the interviewees has been very important as well.

A: Would you encourage other University of Melbourne students to apply for a Norman MacGeorge Travelling Scholarship? This scholarship is remarkably generous, making a research trip of considerable duration in high-cost cities possible. In my case, it afforded more than financial aid. As a member of the scholarship committee, prof. Graham Brawn, kindly introduced me to a potential interviewee. After receiving the interviewee’s positive response, I was encouraged to invite other participants and, like this, to include interviews in my fieldwork trip. This enabled me to meet prestigious scholars and architects, and to receive their valuable contributions.

A: What are your career goals once you complete your PhD? I would like to publish the thesis as a book with prestigious publisher. I would also like to pursue an academic career, and to keep in touch with the architectural practice, perhaps through theoretical projects. As my research deals with the work of an internationally renowned architect, and with a phenomenon of generic nature, I believe its outcomes will be relevant to different places around the world, including my home country of Brazil and Australia. I hope that in a general sense my work will serve life, and its daily challenges. As Mies van der Rohe once stated, ‘Life is what matters, in its fullness, in its spiritual and concrete interconnection’.

Luciana is supervised by Associate Professor Julie Willis.

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MSD Dean’s Honours Awards 2010:

The Faculty of Architecture, Building and planning celebrated the outstanding academic achievements of Melbourne School of Design (MSD) students and staff at the annual Dean’s Honours Awards in May. The annual Awards are an opportunity to reflect on and celebrate the achievements of our brightest postgraduate students and inspirational academic staff. The Dean’s Honours Awards have a strong tradition, with many recipients being amongst our most accomplished alumni, working across the built environment professions both in Australia and overseas’. Various awards were presented on the night by Faculty staff members, with professor Tom Kvan giving awards to our highest-achieving MSD students who made the Dean’s Honours List.

DEAN’S HONOURS LIST Graduate Diploma in Property Valuation Joong Kewk

Master of Architecture (200 point) year 1: Edward Blanch, Matthew Chamberlain, Christopher Loh, Lindsey Ong, Sonya parton, Robert Ventresca year 2: Madeleine Beech, Joanne Nataprawira, Justin Bolton, Marina Carroll, Anna Jeffery, India Mackie, Stephanie poole

Master of Architecture (300 point) year 1: Joshua Haddad

Master of Construction Management (200 point) year 1: Sudha Venkatesh year 2: Sida Guo

Master of Construction Management (300 point) year 1: Christina Vasin

Master of Property (200 point) year 1: Cameron Jones year 2: Danielle Lawes

Master of Property (300 point) year 1: Michael prosser

Master of Landscape Architecture (200 point) year 1: Carlia Bates year 2: Caroline Luiz

Master of Landscape Architecture (300 point) year 1: Kira Grover year 2: Dermot Egan

Master of Landscape Architecture (300 point) year 3: Fiona Johnson

Master of Urban Planning year 1: Madeleine Beart, paul Fleckney year 2: Jason Gilbert, Elanna Nolan

Master of Planning and Design Millie Ramsay

Master of Urban Design year 1: Kristie Howes

In addition, over 20 students were recognised for their achievements in a particular subject or discipline. This suite of awards is strongly supported by benefactors, including high profile companies and organizations such as Bates Smart pty Ltd, AECOM, Australian Institute of Building and the Australian property Institute. partnerships such as these reflect our Faculty’s strong connections with the built environment professions, and demonstrate that the industry sees the benefit of investing in the futures of talented students. The winners of these awards are outlined below:

ARCHITECTURERAIA/Bates Smart Graduate Prize: Joanne Nataprawira

Elizabeth Bennett Prize for Computer Applications: Kean Foo

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE The Neil Fraser Award for Sustainable Landscape Design: David Heymann

AECOM Australia Prize for Urban Design and Landscape Architecture: Caroline Luiz

PROPERTY AND CONSTRUCTION Australian Institute of Building Prize: Marcus Jankie

Chartered Institute of Building Award (UG): Marcus Jankie

Chartered Institute of Building Award (PG Coursework): Sudha Venkatesh

Australian Property Institute: Carl Barrile

Corenet Global Corporate Real Estate (CRE) Award: peck Sam

Hansen Yuncken Prize: Annie Chan and Angela Joseph

Harry Wexler AIQS Prize: Melissa Evans

Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors Prize: 1) Excellence in property: Benjamin Hui 2) Excellence in Quantity Surveying:

Ario wibowo

URBAN PLANNING Ernest Fooks Memorial Award: Madeleine Beech

FACULTY RESEARCH AWARDS Dean’s Prize for Published Postgraduate Research

First prize: Crystal Legacy

Equal Second prize: Stephen pascoe and Milinda pathiraja

John Grice Award: Award for excellence in a phD or Masters’ thesis completed in any given year by a research postgraduate student in Architecture - Dr Iris Levin Azriel

Graham Treloar Fellowship for Early Career Researchers: Dr Stanislav Roudavski

Academic staff were also recognised for their achievements in creating and facilitating innovative curriculum and teaching and across the disciplines in Architecture, Building and planning.

Full details of the award winners are on the ABp website.

The Faculty of Architecture, Building and planning gratefully acknowledges the benefactors of the 2010 prizes and awards:

Mrs Noemi Fooks Mrs J A Stosius Alasdair and Jenny Fraser Australian Institute of Building Australian Institute of Quantity Surveyors Australian property Institute Bates Smart pty Ltd Chartered Institute of Building CoreNet Gobal (Australian Chapters) Graham Treloar Fellowship Hansen yuncken pty Ltd Royal Australian Institute of Architects Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors

celebratiNG acaDemic excelleNce aND iNNovatioN

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/formative-histories-walk/id387291558?mt=8

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Reel Reunion

On 25 March 2011, 40 alumni celebrated 50 years since commencing architecture studies in 1961. The reunion compass was extended forward and back a decade to involve another 100 alumni – all associated with ten unique films created between 1953-1967 by University of Melbourne students and graduates.

For this special film event, people flew in from the U.K, Mumbai, Singapore, perth, ACT and Sydney. The screening was held in the prince philip Theatre and was hosted by the Melbourne School of Design (MSD) and Faculty of Architecture, Building and planning. Tom Kvan, Dean of the Faculty, and philip Goad, Director of the MSD introduced the evening.

Twelve alumni recalled what it was like to have been part of these productions: peter McIntyre (1953, 1958); Robin Cuming (1953); Howard McCorkell (1959); Chris Seddon (1960); Tamara winikoff, Anne Cunningham and Claudia Esdaile (1961); Stephen Adorjan (1963); Max Hipkins (1964); Hugh O’Neill (1965); Tony Green (1966) and Garry Martin (1967).

The audience responded to the universal themes captured in the short films – attitudes of cynicism to advertising; philistinism to domestic architectural heritage; ultra-emphasis

on competitive sport; prudery in the arts; sexism; governmentalism in education; facadism in our lives; economic rationalism and racism for visiting students and immigrants. were they ‘boat people’ who clambered down from Polywoodside – captured as a Dickensian before-shot of what years later needed a National trust restoration committee with peter McIntyre chair? Homage was paid on the night to his special success – the spawning of the Mouldie generations. what was that in the film he was malevolently mixing in a beaker?

Thanks were given to those who carried the cans safely for half a century. Eric Kerr wove camera for the five early films. Mrs Muriel Kerr rummaged and retrieved them. Gary patterson nurtured the other five. I buttonholed Nigel Buesst, who directed the professional nip, tuck and metamorphosis into the form seen that night. Nigel was the cinematographer who shot Façade and years later Squizzy Taylor. Another Revue Film photographer from outside was the avant-garde John Scott who filmed John is an Architecture Student, 1965. His work later made the cover of Time. Student Russell Hagg directed the 1960 and 1961 films and later worked with Kubrick. The 1963 student film – A ½ hour of a day in the life of Robin Beckett was said to have been shown at the Cannes Film Festival.

The challenge after our one-night festival was put for the next generations of alumni to reintroduce the student films of the ‘70’s to ‘90’s. The last frame was played by 1995.

Old celluloids in their cans, never die – so we were fortunate to have encouragement from those of the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) in conjunction with `Australiamediateque National Film and Sound Archives to foster-home the original masters.

Some might say these short films were, ‘every day’. Others might say it another way – that this giant pile of celluloid contained that tiny bit of … MAGIC.

Peter Jones was co-producer, vibes player and actor in the 1964 architectural student film Façade.

peter joNeS

Images 1. peter Jones, peter McIntyre, Ondine McGlashan 2. Dr George Michell, peter Jones, Sally Anderson

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The Faculty of Architecture, Building and planning has always received generous support from alumni, friends and industry partners to create opportunities for our talented students.

As a Faculty, we are committed to ensuring that our students - the next generation of built environment professionals - understand the need for sustainable solutions in the creation of urban centres. Now more than ever we have an opportunity to make a significant impact on our environmental and social futures by managing urban change.

But how do we do this? One key way is by ensuring that our students develop interdisciplinary knowledge, where sustainability principles are embedded as a way of thinking and collaboration is the preferred mode of practice. To achieve this it is clear we must create a new, flexible academic space and an inspirational, world-class curriculum.

we have embarked on creating a new building for the Faculty which will be unique in Australia: it will be a centre of transformational education and research into sustainable cities and an exemplar of sustainable infrastructure. In particular, it will allow students and researchers to explore sustainability issues across multiple disciplines in a living and pedagogical building that can be adapted to changing needs, designed to provide ongoing feedback to students and researchers for real-time learning. Therefore, the facility itself will be the platform for training our future leaders engaged in planning, designing and constructing cities and communities here and abroad.

we invite you to join with us to support our endeavours. By supporting our community of students and researchers and our building project, you are making a significant investment in the educational, environmental and economic health of the built environment professions for future generations.

We’re in this together

If you are interested in obtaining a special DVD showcasing the 10 architecture films please contact ABp events - [email protected]

If you have already registered your interest, you do not need to do so again.

mailto:[email protected]

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YES! I want to support the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, University of Melbourne through my gift of:

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please do not publicly acknowledge this gift.

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please return your form to: University of Melbourne Advancement Office University of Melbourne VIC 3010 Australia Tel: +61 3 8344 1751 Fax: +61 3 9348 0013 Email: [email protected] URL: www.unimelb.edu.au/giving

The University of Melbourne is a certified DGR. All gifts over $2.00 to the University are tax-deductible in Australia. ABN: 84 002 705 224

The University of Melbourne must comply with the Information privacy principles of the Information privacy Act 2000 (Vic) when collecting, using or handling personal information. your details will not be passed on to a third party in breach of privacy laws. The University’s privacy policy is available at http://www.unimelb.edu.au/unisec/privacy.

The Catherin Bull Scholarship in Landscape Architecture

The Faculty’s Highest priorities

Images 1. Detail of project by Tara ward 2 & 3. Details of project by Aaron Healy

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.unimelb.edu.au/giving

http://www.unimelb.edu.au/unisec/privacy

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Dr Marcus white joined the Faculty at the beginning of the year as Lecturer – Digital Design in Architecture. Marcus was named the inaugural National Emerging Architect of the year at the Australian Achievement in Architecture Awards (AAAA), run by the AIA in March. Sponsored by Lockwood, the award was judged on a range of criteria, including contribution to community activities related to architecture, involvement in official AIA activities and showcasing excellence in architectural practice, research or education. you can read more about Marcus on page 17.

Also at the 2011 Australian Achievement in Architecture Awards, alumnus Anna Rubbo was a recipient of the Neville Quarry Architectural Education prize and alumnus Jefa Greenaway was presented with a Dulux Study Tour prize. Jefa is the first indigenous registered Architect in Victoria and jury of Dulux Study Tour felt that Jefa’s ‘solid project experience and as the director as of his own practice, has begun to chart a direction to cement himself as a contemporary emerging architectural practice.’

The Elisabeth Murdoch Chair in Landscape Architecture appointment has been finalised. Professor Gini Lee, currently professor of Landscape Architecture at QUT, will join the Faculty in July of this year.

Professor Miles Lewis will be retiring on 30 June, after TBC years with the Faculty. Miles will continue to be connected to the Faculty, through his various with teaching and research activities. we will be celebrating his many achievements and contributions in coming months.

Congratulations to Jillian Walliss who won the Edward Brown Award for Teaching Excellence. This is a significant achievement and reflects the excellent contribution that Jillian has made to teaching in the Faculty.

Congratulations to recent Master of Urban planning graduate Elanna Nolan, who was this year’s recipient of the women’s planning Network Rising Star Scholarship. Elanna won for her essay entitled ‘Going to Town: gender, youth and the city.’

Congratulations also to alum Alexandra Chu (BArch Hons 1997) founder of the Anken Group, who won the Australia post Sustainable Development Award at the AustCham Australia China Business Awards for the Group’s showcase Anken Green warehouse.

Dean’s Lecture Series 2011

James Timberlake partner, Kieran Timberlake, philadelphia Tuesday 23 August, 7pm Carillo Gantner Theatre, Basement, Sydney Myer Asia Centre

Lorenzo Castro Architect, Bogota Tuesday 4 October, 7pm Carillo Gantner Theatre, Basement, Sydney Myer Asia Centre

For full event details and to register visit: http://www.msd.unimelb.edu.au/events/deans-lectures/

ABP Alumni Retrospective Series Exhibition: ARM Architects – They’re not butchers are they? 6 June -1 July 2011

wunderlich Gallery, Architecture Building “The architecture of Melbourne-based Ashton Raggatt McDougall (ARM) is like no other in Australia. It may have no counterpart anywhere in the world.” (professor phillip Goad, New Directions in Australian Architecture, 2001)

For an up to date listing of all Faculty events visit: www.msd.unimelb.edu.au

The Making of Hong Kong: From Vertical to Volumetric, co-authored by Barrie Shelton, Justyna Karakiewicz and Thomas Kvan, was launched by professor Glyn Davis, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne in late February. The book, published by Routledge, examines Hong Kong, one of the most compact cities and sustainable cities in the world. The launch was a huge success with over 100 alumni, staff, practitioners and friends the event held in the Atrium. The space was adorned with illustrations by Justyna Karakiewicz from the book printed on huge banners. Read Barrie Shelton’s article on pages 14-16.

Another book recently published by Routledge is Urban Coding and Planning, which features entries by Qinghua Guo and Barrie Shelton. Qinghua Guo writes on the historical interplay of planning and coding in Beijing from the Ming to Mao eras, including the period of Japanese occupation. Barrie provides the Australian case study, tracing the ‘pendular swings’ in spatial concepts and planning ideas that have underpinned the framing of codes for Adelaide’s ‘Square Mile’ since the city’s foundation.

Robert Crawford’s new book Life Cycle Assessment in the Built Environment was published in March by Spon press (Taylor and Francis). Life cycle assessment enables the identification of a broad range of potential environmental impacts occurring across the entire life of a product, from its design through to its eventual disposal or reuse. The need for life cycle assessment to inform environmental design within the built environment is critical, due to the complex range of materials and processes required to construct and manage our buildings and infrastructure systems.

Welcome

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From the Faculty

http://www.msd.unimelb.edu.au/events

http://www.msd.unimelb.edu.au

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ABp’s Ex-Lab (Experimental Design Lab) launched into the year with a summer workshop on Digital Design and Fabrication: an intensive 4-week course which introduced architecture students to advanced digital modeling and parametric design software. Thirty five students participated in the workshop which culminated in the design, fabrication and construction of an installation on St Kilda beach, as part of the 2011 St Kilda Festival in February. The installation is the cover image of this edition of Atrium.

The Identity, Diversity and The Metropolis: The Inaugural Hon. Evan Walker Design Studio Exhibition, led by Jefa Greenaway followed in March. This intriguing exhibition of student work from the 2010 Master of Architecture studio of the same name focused on indigenous place-making. Jefa Greenaway, Director of Greenaway Architects, is a descendant of the wailwan/Gamillaraay people and the only registered Indigenous architect practicing in Victoria. The exhibition was generously supported by the Christopher wren Club.

On 25 March we presented a unique cinematic event – a screening of short films by University of Melbourne architecture students from the 1950s and 1960s. The screening showcased a collection of films created by some of Australia’s foremost architects and designers from this ‘golden era’. Identities such as Robin Boyd, John Gollings, Dimity Reed and John Denton, as well as Melbourne architectural landmarks, were captured in these films in a period before the extensive urban transformations of the 1970s. Over 250 alumni and friends filled the prince philip Theatre and enjoyed the cinematic experience which was enhanced by a lounge area, where cocktails and choc tops were served. Read more about the event on page 22.

we launched the 2011 MSD Dean’s Lecture Series in March with a lecture by American architect Nader Tehrani. The talk featured an introductory conversation with

John wardle. There was a high level of interest in this event, with the Carrillo Gantner Theatre almost full to capacity and over 200 people having registered before any active promotion was undertaken. Comments afterwards noted that it was the best lecture on architecture many had attended. Nader has also spent time during his visit engaging with students in a studio session and giving a floor talk as part of his exhibition currently showing in the wunderlich Gallery. Read more about Nader’s visit of pages 4-6.

Colombian landscape architect Martha Fajardo presented the 2nd lecture in our Dean’s Lecture Series in early May. The focus of her talk was the transformations which have recently taken place in Bogotá, Medellin and Cartagena in regard to transport, public spaces, art and culture, education, social urbanism and social inclusion.

The Faculty launched an exciting new series called the MSD Director’s Series in April, which will feature four yearly lectures by some of Australia’s leading thinkers in contemporary design, architecture and planning. This inaugural series began with Timothy Hill, who delivered an irreverent talk on the Oxo measuring cup to an exclusive audience at the Robin Boyd House in South yarra. ‘To be fully charmed by the Oxo measuring cup requires some imaginative role playing as a cocktail bartender, since its appeal is experiential rather than graphic,’ says Timothy. Timothy is a Director at Donovan Hill, is one of Australia’s leading architectural practices, whose output encompasses furniture commissions, public art projects, the Brisbane City Centre Master plan, landscapes, laboratories, commercial office towers and domestic houses.

Clare Newton was in South Africa in late March as a Visiting Board member on a validation visit to the School of Architecture, planning and Geomatics at the University of Capetown. She also attended a special meeting of the South African Council for

the Architectural profession in Capetown which reviewed the relationship between the South African accreditation system and the Commonwealth Association of Architects. Clare is Chair of the CAA Validation panel.

Jianfei Zhu spoke on ‘Scale and State: Beijing of the 1420s’ at a Conference at wolfenbüttel in Germany on 17 March. The talk was part of the joint research project sponsored by the University of Freiburg, Leiden University and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences on the formation of statehood in late imperial China and early modern Europe.

Alan March travelled to Florence in April to attend the IDER 2011 conference on international disaster response and planning, hosted by the University of Florence, Centre for Civil protection and Risk Studies (CESpRO).The main theme of the conference was ‘Community Resilience’ – the impact of climate change and natural and man-made disasters.

Richard Tomlinson was in Singapore recently and delivered two talks at National University Singapore (NUS). One talk was for the Master of Science Environment students and one for Master of public Administration and Master of public policy students in the Lee Kuan yew School of public policy.

exhibitioNS, expeDitioNS aND lectureS

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CITIES AND URBAN ENVIRONMENTS

Atrium16 | 2011

THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE

FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING & PLANNING

contactFACULTy OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING & pLANNINGUNIVERSITy OF MELBOURNEVICTORIA 3010 AUSTRALIApHONE + 61 3 8344 6417 www.ABp.UNIMELB.EDU.AU

Published by the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning

Co-editors: Louisa Ragas & Michele BurderDesign: Studio BinocularAuthorised by professor Tom Kvan, Dean Faculty of Architecture, Building & planning, May 2011

ISSN 1447-1728 The University of Melbourne CRICOS provider code: 00116K

http://www.abp.unimelb.edu.au

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